Game board



Sept. 113, i949. E. L. WHITEHALL GAME BOARD Filed Feb. 14, 1948 an inclined plane to a supporting surface, by reason of the fact that legs II are considerably shorter than legs I0. Thus it will be apparent that the lowest corner of the board at home-plate is only slightly above the supporting surface for facilitating the starting of each player, whilst the centereld corner is high above such surface. Wing nut and bolt assemblies I2 secure the legs to the outer sides of the walls 6 and so that when the board is not in use the wing nuts may be loosened and the legs swung up flat against the side as will be understood.

The playing floor I3 has a generally polygonal contour and is shorter than the base on two of its sides I3a, and the corner of the floor at its high end is formed with an arcuate curve I4 joining the adjacent side edges. Thus it will be apparent that a channel or gutter I 5 extends along both margins of the outfield, the function of which will later be explained. As shown in Fig. 1,'the floor I3 has therein a plurality of apertures, pockets or the like, all identified by numeral I6, said apertures having different dimensions and being designated for penalties and scores. The oor I3 is spaced above the base member 5 in a manner to permit the ball to fall through any of the apretures I6 or into channel I5, and upon reaching the base member, said ball will roll downward towards the low corner of the game board nearest the player. Suitable upstanding strips I'I are interposed between and are properly secured to the base member and the floor member for spacing these members as well as for securing the door member to said base. These strips I'I are shown in parallel relation to each other, but it is understood such arrangement is optional.

For the purpose of readily returning the ball from the base member back to the playing eld, there is a ramp-like arrangement such as shown in section in Fig. 2. In order to effect this retrieving arrangement an elongated U-shaped cut is made in the floor member I3 to provide a tongue I8 extending from the pitcher position to approximately home plate. This tongue is bent downward at its free end, which end is then inserted into and secured to a seat or slot I9 in the adjacent region of base member 5. For the pur-- pose of guiding the ball to this return ramp, inwardly converging supporting strips 2l] are interposed between and secured to the base and floor member 5 and I3 respectively in the same manner as spacer strips I'I, and as shown in Fig. l, inner end regions 2I of these converging strips 2li extend parallel to each other so that they lie along the sides of the ramp where they prevent the ball leaving the ramp when returning to the playing field.

At the lowest corner of the game board the ends of the side walls 'I may be separated to provide a gap which is spanned or bridged by a yieldable or spring-like member 22 having its end portions overlapping and secured to the end regions of the walls 1. This yieldable member 22 may be a strip of metal, rubber, or other suitable material which has suiiicient flexibility to yield under impact when it is struck with a club, mallet or other implement -23 held by the player.

In starting a play or game the player positions the ball at the low corner of the board so that it rests against yieldable member 22, and, holding club 23 in the hand or hands, strikes the member 22 with the head of the club. The impact thus imparted to the ball drives it across the playing floor so that it may by-pass some of the apertures or pockets I 6 and finally fall into a score or penalty aperture, or pass over the playing floor I3 into channel I5 along the sides of the outfield. However, should the ball escape the apertures IE or channel I5 and travel at suflicient speed to pass over channel I5 it will impinge against either of the oblique walls 6 and rebound therefrom in a trajectory which will tend to return the ball to the playing floor where it will roll backward thereon. When the ball gravitates to the base member it will be guided by converging strips 2U to the ramp I8 and thence to the surface of the playing eld and come to rest against yieldable member 22 where it will be ready for the next stroke by the player. The mid portion of the yieldable member 22 where it spans the gap in the side walls is arranged so that its lower margin is above the central or equatorial region of the ball so that part of the ball surface protrudes below the edge of said yieldable member. This is a feature of the present assembly in that the player may hit the ball by direct contact therewith whereby a properly directed impact will effect a iiy hit which causes the ball to soar upwardly above the playing field. A y hit of sufficient height may drive the ball over the outfield walls and nets for scoring a home-run for the player.

It will be understood that when simulating a baseball game the player continues his plays until he has struck out and has scored one or more runs. When the game board simulates a golf game the apertures I 6 and channel I5 may be designated greens, hazards, out of bounds and the like and the players may alternate the strokes. It is not intended to be limited to the use of a ball or sphere for playing the game, as a thick disc or the like may be substituted therefor. The use of the words token or ball herein is merely for the purpose of defining an object which will move on the board when given impetus by the hand of the player or by a club held by the player.

While the invention has been described in detail in its preferred form or embodiment, it will be apparent to persons skilled in the art, after understanding the improvements, that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. It is aimed in the appended claims to .cover all such changes and modifications.

What is claimed is:

1. A game board structure for use with a movable token, comprising a base member of polygonal contour; means adapted to maintain said 55 base member in an inclined plane extending upward from a corner of said base member; up-

standing limiting walls along the sides of said base member; a playing floor of polygonal contour spaced above said base member and being 60 arranged in a plane ,below the upper edges of said limiting walls; said floor having therein a plurality of well-defined penalty and scoring apertures through which the token may pass; unitary yieldable means spanning a recess at the 65 lowermost corner 0f the wall structure and against which a playing token is adapted to rest when a play is initiated, said means being effective when it receives an impact delivered by a player to direct the token across the surface of 70 the playing floor; and means between said base member and playing floor lfor gravitationally returning the token to the yieldable means.

2. A game board structure for use with a ball,

comprising a generally rectangular base mem- 75 ber; means supporting said base member on one corner in an inclined plane extending upward; an apertured playing oor generally parallel with said base member and spaced upwardly therefrom; perpendicular bounding side walls along the margins of said base member and eX- tending above the plane of said playing oor for retaining the ball on the oor; a penalty zone of angular contour at the upper region of the structure and extending below said playing floor, said zone dened by an open channel between the two upper bounding walls and the adjacent upper side edges of said playing floor; adjacent side walls at the opposite lower corner region of said playing floor being spaced from each other to provide a wide gap for positioning the ball at the initiation of a play; a yieldable spring metal strip extending across said gap and against which the ball initially rests, said strip being effective in response to an impact delivered to it by the player to mpel the ball upwardly on said playing oor; and means between said base member and said iioor for gravitationally returning the ball to said spring spanning strip.

3. A game board structure as dened in claim 2 wherein the apertures in the playing floor have a variety of shapes and dimensions denoting REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 870,041 Lundberg Nov. 5, 1907 1,086,279 Cullmer Feb. 3, 1914 1,346,782 Gehring July 13, 1920 1,939,819 Isaza Dec. 19, 1933 2,240,871 stark May 6, 1941 2,246,115 Volz June 17, 1941 2,237,351 Johnson Apr. 8, 1941 2,362,188 Clark Nov. 7, 1944 

